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Story : In the deep forest
Back to The road to Hockstow Forest The Burned Out Clearing Exploring the forest had proven difficult. Even with Eirlys's ability to take to the skies, they had trouble. It was easy to lose one's orientation in the wood, and sight was limited by what little light found its way through the canopy and trees blocking the view at every turn. The first few forests they had been directed to turned out to simply be where an old tree had fallen down, taking some of its neighbours with it. The floor of clearings was filled with dense foliage competing for sunlight with young saplings. A larger clearing proved to be the result of human activity. There were signs that some sort of camp had lingered here for some time, possibly a couple of years, but had been abandoned in the past year. The forest had still not reclaimed a large blackened ashy circle where a number of the surrounding trees had met their end. Eirlys moved somberly among the ashen remains of the fallen trees, placing her hands on each stump she could find, and saying a few words quietly over each one. As she did so, Sandor stowed his weapons and slowly walked about, his eyes focused on the ground. Many times he stopped and knelt, brushing away the soot and soil. Sometimes he picked up an object, most of the times he did not. Those times that he did, he dropped it into the money pouch at his waist, secured it, and began the process anew. By the time that Eirlys had finished bidding the trees fare-thee-well, he had made several deposits. When he saw that she was done, he returned to her side , his hammer once again in his hands. Aloysius quickly spotted that there was only one path into the clearing, and it appeared to lead directly out of the wood. "Try to remember this location, my friend," she requested. "I'd like to return here when I have studied more, and am better equipped to help this place recuperate." As evening turned to night, the group stopped to make camp. Eirlys was vehement in insisting that no fires be burned. She quietly ate some mutton jerky, and dried pears. After eating, she and Aloysius played about, chasing each other, hiding behind tree trunks, and jumping about in a quite undignified manner. Once a watch rotation was set, she settled down onto a mossy bank and curled up into a ball, cradling her polecat friend in her arms. Over breakfast the next morning, Eirlys addressed Longinus: "Sodalis, my pater has always insisted that I wear clothing when at Tribunal, or dealing with others who are like to have their sensibilities offended by my bare flesh. However, as we suspect we may be dealing with other fae, it would be quite unseemly for me to be cloyed with wool or silk. I hope you would not mind if I proceed through the rest of our journey unhindered by these ghastly garments." Longinus paused, choking, his eating bowl suspended in mid-air in front of him. Thumping his chest with one arm he gasped "Do as you see fit Maga. I will strive to put aside any offense I may or may not feel." It was toward lunchtime on the second day as they headed toward possibly their twelfth clearing, when Longinus noticed that the trees seemed to be getting larger. Eirlys was rather accustomed to seeing impressively large trees, which if anything, formed one of the more mundane things she had seen in the faerie regios she had visited. It wasn't so much the width of the trunks that struck Longinus as odd, but rather the general scale of the tree, the height of the lowest branches, the size of the leaves. It was hard to put his finger on, but they just seemed a bit too big, and as they progressed further into the wood, his doubt faded as the increasing size of the trees stretched the notion that they might be quite ordinary beyond the point of credibility. The Ring As they were advancing through the wood, an uneasy feeling settled upon them that they were being observed discreetly. Looking about at the trees, nothing could be seen amidst the branches, or lurking amidst the ferns and leaf litter of the forest floor. Suddenly, from up ahead, Aloysius's voice cried out in surprise, and pain. The undergrowth was knee deep, and a few metres ahead it dipped as it encountered what looked like an old ditch which crossed their path. ::Aloysius was scampering along looking for clues when he ran into a ward. Noses are sensitive things, and he's just bumped his, hence the cry of pain. He hasn't yet made a concerted attempt at penetrating the barrier, though it is possible he will fail to get inside. It also affect humans, as per Ward against the Curious Scullion; Covenants, p104. "Aly!" Eirlys rushed to her friend's side. Seeing him all in one piece, she gathered him up in her arms and rubbed his red little nose soothingly. "Be careful, love... I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you." He grinned crookedly. "Well, SOMEONE has to keep his eyes open around here. Anyway, I found something." With one paw, he gestured towards the place his nose got tweaked. "There's something invisible there." Cautiously Longinus moved forward to the edge of the ditch. "Something invisible you say?" His head sinks deeper into the shadows of his hood for some time and then a small pebble rises and floats towards the place where Aloysius gestured. In between testing the ward Longinus moves close beside Eirlys. "Maga Eirlys. Two questions for you if I may, since it is clear that the forest is more your province than mine. First, about the trees hereabout. I'm not expert, but they do seem impossibly large. Is there any import in that." Eirlys rose to her hooves and peered up into the air. "They're fairly large, but nothing out of the ordinary, I don't think." She approached the nearest tree and placed her hand on its broad, steadfast trunk. "Trees can grow quite enormous, when humans don't come along with their iron axes and torches." Longinus paused for a moment as if thinking. "And secondly, would a small controlled fire be amiss to clear out the foliage from this ditch?" The fey girl gave a wry grin. "If by 'amiss' you mean 'potentially disastrous' then yes, yes it would," she replied. "If your studies have been so inclined, perhaps you could try moving them without causing damage to them. I have studied only a little Herbam, and no Rego. I think I shall try to enter, though." She scooped up Aloysius into her arms, and attempted to walk forward to the area where the polecat had bumped his nose. She cradled Aloysius in her arms and walked over to the depression. As she neared it, she slowed her motion, not wanting to hurt her pet, and approached cautiously. Inching her way forward, she could feel Aloysius being pushed against her breast, gently at first and thereafter with rapdidly growing force until her pet decided he had quite had enough of the tightening embrace, and scrabbled over Eirlys's shoulder in a slightly painful manner. As he struggled free, Eirlys lurched forward, and stumbled hapharzardly into the depression. The faerie girl gasped as she made impact. Even before she collected herself though, she called out (perhaps a bit wildly): "Aly! Are you all right?" Scrambling back to her hooves, she turned around. Aloysius' fur seemed to be a bit thinner, and he was shaken, but otherwise intact. "I'm so sorry, my dear," she said sadly. "Well, I can't imagine what it might be. I doubt it's an Aegis, or I think I'd have felt something when crossing in; I always felt a tingling in my legs whenever I returned to Crun Clach without my yew wand with me, and it was the same tingling I felt when travelling to Horsingas for Tribunal... So, what does that leave us with," she pondered aloud. "Think, Eirlys, think. It almost seems like a Ward Against Beasts of Legend... but Aly, you're not magical, you're faerie-- so that shouldn't affect you. I suppose a version could be invented to affect faerie beasts, but it seems to me that would be a dreadful breach of etiquette in a fae forest. Not that we know for sure this IS a fae forest... but if it isn't, one would have no reason for a ward against them, now would they?" She began to pace as she continued thinking aloud. "You bumped your nose on it-- which means it doesn't affect your whiskers, just your body; so it can't be an Animal effect, or you'd have felt the resistance of the barrier with your whiskers as well. Now, I'd think it a ward against faeries, but you're not of wood, water, air, or the mountain..." she scratched her head. "Wait, Aly, are you a mountain faerie?" The polecat was grooming himself carefully. "My father is a goblin, it's true," he began, in between mouthfuls of fur, "But don't think you'll be pulling any Terram vis out of THIS rectum." Excitedly, he shook his rear. "I'm aaaall Animal." "Then nothing I've ever heard of would affect you and not myself." She tapped her chin with one finger as she racked her brain. "Aly, can you follow this barrier for me, and scratch out its dimensions into the ground? Let's at least see if it is a ring, and then let's worry about how to overcome it." Aloysius made a *harrumph* sound, deep in his throat. "You COULD just leave me here, and go on without me," he suggested cautiously. "Never," came the reply, without hesitation. Clearly happy to hear her answer, the weaselly creature scampered to accomodate Eirlys' request. Within a few minutes, Eirlys spotted that the arc he was scratching into the ground was hugging a shallow depression. "There's our boundary," she mused aloud. Eirlys turned towards Longinus, and spoke with caution in her voice, "I'm going to throw around some blind Perdo Vim. Would you mind moving far enough away that you're not in range of my voice? I'll be speaking quite loudly." Nodding, Longinus called Llewellyn to follow him, then called again until he was sure Llewellyn had heard, and carefully and slowly traversed around the shallow depression until they were well away from Eirlys and her companions. Eirlys The satyr folded her legs underneath her and hunkered down, elbows resting on knees, and chin resting on hands. "Well Aly, I suspect that perhaps you may be held at bay by a Terram spell, as you're descended of a mountain fae," she said in Welsh. "I should be able to dispel a fifth or sixth magnitude spell without too much trouble." There came the sound of trotting horses and a strong chill, but nothing happened. "Hmmpfh. Nada." She began to pace more. Crouching in the dirt, she picked up a fallen leaf from the ground, then tossed it at the ring. The leaf fluttered harmlessly to the ground. She pulled a silk dress from her pack, and tossed it across the ring, where it settled lightly on the ground next to the leaf. She stuffed it back in her pack and muttered to herself. "Animal, Herbam... requisites... Vim... non-mundane..." "Sandor!" Eirlys bounced up. "Would you try walking through this area so I know whether it holds you at bay? Also, swing your mace at it?" Sandor nodded determinedly and stepped up to the edge of the depression. He carefully took his coin purse from his belt and held it out for Eirlys to take. When she had, he held his hammer head down and swung it around his body much like a pendulum so that it did meet resistance, it would not risk hurting him or any of those around him. Sandor stepped into the depression, continuing the gentle swing of his hammer. His hammer passed over the center of the depression with no resistance, so he started forward at a very slow walk - his first step carefully probing before him. His step, slow as it was, should have taken him over the center of the depression, but his foot slowed as it approached the center, and eventually stopped just shy of the depression's center point. The toes of his boot were visibly flexed, as if he was pressing against an invisible wall. Frowning, he leaned forward, both hands outstretched. His hands slowed down just as his foot had, eventually coming to a stop as if pressed against an invisible wall. Sandor braced himself against the ground and pushed with as much strength as he could muster, but the only movement he achieved was that of his feet sliding back on the old forest's ground cover. Sandor took a step back and turned to his mistress, motioning for his money pouch. From it, it took one of the small seeds he collected from the burnt clearing. He placed it upon the flat side of his hammer and slowly slid the hammer forward. Again, it passed through the barrier unheeded - seed and all. He withdrew the hammer and deposited the seed in his pouch again. He turned around and shrugged at Eirlys, stepping out of her way so that she might try to walk through. "Hmmm." The fae grumbled deep in her throat. Aloysius slinkered up to his friend and licked her leg, smoothing down a stray patch of fur. "I think you're making this more complicated than it needs to be." He scampered up her body to perch on her shoulder. Eirlys tapped her forehead with a finger. "You're probably right," she conceded. "I suppose were I some bumbling old mundie who wanted to abuse the resources of a forest without suffering the consequences, I'd just invent a really big Vim spell with a ton of requisites, to keep out every kind of fae and any mundane Corpus." She raised her arms and opened her mouth, as though preparing to cast. The polecat shook his head, then lifted one paw and rapped a tiny claw against the girl's temple, in a mockery of her own gestures. "No, you nincompoop. How long do you think it's been since someone's been here? Do you really think anyone's been around to cast your 'really big Vim spell with your tons of requisites?' every year? No! This nose and these eyes are as sharp as the formidable intellect they serve! And I can tell you, no one's been here for AGES! So why are you bothering trying to pick apart really old magic, invented by some crotchety old mundie wizard who spent seasons of his life trying to keep fae away from his summer hunting lodge?" "I don't see what---" Eirlys blinked twice, then sighed heavily as realization dawned on her face. "Of course! It must be an enchanted item maintaining a constant effect here!" Aloysius snickered. "So you just find whatever the object was that was enchanted, and destroy it. Just like when you got mad at Drystan and challenged him to that Perdo certamen"-- "Shut UP, Aly," she said through gritted teeth. "--but he picked Herbam and after he stomped you then he destroyed your staff? Heh, must have been really frustrating to lose something you spent that much time enchanting, to such a simple Perdo spell--" "ALY!" She shouted. "If you keep egging me on, I've half a mind to walk straight into this ward and not have to hear your ramblings." Eirlys walked to the boundary and peered in, careful not to fall in this time. "I don't see anything near the center," she said as she leaned forward. She craned her neck as she peered forward, but lost her balance and slipped. Sandor's hand shot out to steady her, and as Eirlys struggled to regain her composure, a look of understanding dawned on her face. She looked down to where one hoof had scuffed the ground. "Of course," she mused to herself. With an eager smile, the satyr held tight to Sandor's arm and began to kick at the shallow ditch, breaking the ring-shaped depression with divoted turf. "There," she grinned. "Let's go." Motioning for Sandor and Aloysius to accompany her, Eirlys walked in. Sandor strode towards the depression immediately after his charge, eager that she should not walk into danger without him by her side. He lept across the depression... ...and coolided with an invisible barrier, the sound of his possessions slamming into his body as they came to a complete stop right after their bearer was louder than one might have expected. Sandor grunted and fell backwards from the barrier landing on hius bum, his nose bleeding freely down his face and running into his shirt. He was on his feet with remarkable agility, and sprang forward, careful to avoid crashing into the barrier again. His hand shot our to catch the arm of the maga Eirlys, his charge, but it his fingers just barely brushed the skin of her elbow. A series of throaty hisses emerged from the polecat's throat. "Are you trying to kill us, woman?" he grumbled. "Oh, poppycock." The satyr turned back to her friends. "Oh my!" She took a wool kerchief out of her pack (which Sandor was carrying) and began to dab at his face. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern in her voice. She fussed over his nose some more, but clearly had not the slightest idea how to treat a bloodied nose. Sandor gratefully took the kerchief and placed it on his upper lip, his other hand expertly pinching the bridge of his nose to stop the flow of blood. He smiled crookedly to Eirlys. "What about me?" whined the mustelid. "I think I might have broken something." He bounded up into his friend's arms, making pathetic poor-me sounds. Finding nothing wrong with her friend, Eirlys just began to stroke his fur reassuringly while she paced. "Well, what a pickle." Eirlys jumped up and down at the border, stamping her hooves in the kicked-up turf. "What did this old mundie do-- plant iron spikes in the earth for his ring?" With eyes narrowing, the satyr stared at the spot she'd previously dug at, preparing to cast. A few words and hasty gestures later, and a gaping hole a pace across had opened in the earth, just where they'd attempted to cross. Spanning this gap was a single cord of what appeared to be copper. "Oh, tricky little mundie," Eirlys muttered. Gesturing to Sandor, she indicated that he should wait a moment, and then threw herself into a spell. With considerable effort, Eirlys managed to destroy a section of the copper wire. There was no powerful effect as the spells fell, and for a moment, she wasn't sure that she had succeeded, when Aloysius's small head popped up just inside, and scampered off toward Longinus. Fear and concern flashed in violet eyes. "ALY!" she cried, traipsing after him. Sandor's hand shot up after his mistress, trying to keep her from rushing off, but he missed, and she was dashing off into the trees. He didn't know what was wrong with the polecat, but he know that Eirlys would rush blindly into danger to come to its aid. Just as Sandor would for her. Without so much as a second thought, Sandor unslung his hammer and ran across the ring and after her. Longinus Further around the boundary, Longinus was still engrossed in his own investigations. After checking his Parma, he stepped across the boundary and waited for a moment to see if he could feel anything. His next step was to cast a variety of spells to see if there was any particular difficulties, hindrances or assistance to spell casting. He started with the spell he struggled most with, his own version of Wizards Sidestep. After taking any required time to recover (each time), he tried to recast it silently and then continued by throwing some Iron Darts through the ward at random trees. As Longinus stood motionless, pairs of darts lanced into tree trunks on the outside of the ward with a satisfying thuds. the darts, similar in size to heavy looking crossbow bolts, seemed to appear out of nowhere just behind his shoulder before burying themselves deeply within the tree trunks. He crouched for a moment, appearing to think deeply while recovering his breath. Once he was satisfied on that his magic was unimpaired by the ward Longinus motioned for Llewellyn to join him. As Llewelyn pushed carefully forward over the depression it became immediately apparent that he was obstructed and he stopped, eyes alert, patiently waiting for the magus to resolve the situation. Longinus paused for a moment thinking, then cautiously pushed back across the ward to the outside. Carefully checking the surroundings for observation, and noting that Eirlys appeared to be engaged in conversation with Aloysius, he warned Llewelyn to be especially vigilant as he completed his next task. He then lowered his parma and immediately began to redo his morning ritual in the manner his Pater had taught him would enable him to cover Llewelyn as well. In a short time the ritual was complete. "It should be possible for us both to cross the boundary now" he told Llewelyn. "You lead, carefully. I wish to explore the centre of this little spot." The two crossed the ward, this time without any trouble, and began to cautiously advance toward the centre of the ward's influence. Beyond the ward As Longinus walked toward the centre of the ring, he could make out dark shapes amidst the trees. The trees thinned abruptly amidst a series of great, round depressions in the ground that lay scattered about haphazardly. Not far before him, stood a monolith, leaning at a slightly drunken angle, and covered with a thick layer of ivy. A couple of the depressions, that were between a few feet and twelve feet deep, contained rubble, a few pieces of faced stone, and in the case of the deepest depression, a good bit of water. Further ahead, he could just about make out some structures that were in a better state of repair. "Llewelyn, those structures ahead, I'd like to take a closer look at them. But first lets have a look at this monolith. Please clear away some of that ivy, just a small area for a start, a few handspans wide." Llewelyn moved forward to the monolith and begain to tear at the ivy covering a small area several handspans in diameter at about chest height. While he worked Longinus looked intently at the nearest of the depressions and began contemplating how best to work his arts. As he worked, Llewelyn revealed a dark cavity in the face of the monolith. Where he pulled away the ivy, parallel rows of ivy tendrils remained behind, clinging to the rock. Using his thick fingernails, he began to clear these away, pulling off strips of tendril and thick clumps of moss, revealing that the hole was surrounded by a strange border of simply carved figures that seemed to interwine slightly as they danced in file. Checking on Llewelyn's progress, Longinus moved forward for a close look at the cavity and associated carvings. "Hmmm, intriguing" he murmured. Cocking his head within his hood he spoke again to Llewelyn. "Please, continue. Once we have cleared this monolith then I think we should go and see how Maga Eirlys is faring. I'm sure she will be interested in this find as well." Llewelyn had gotten the hang of removing ivy, and had begun to pull it away in long, thick clumps, showering small pieces of dry tendril and detritus as it came free from the obelisk. As he set about pulling off the worst of it, a small furry face bearing a somewhat curious expression rose silently out of the undergrowth a dozen paces behind him and wrinkled its nose as it watched the strange human do whatever it was doing. With the ivy removed, it was clear that the obelisk was divided into wide horizontal bands, and in each band, figures had been carved, apparently protraying some sort of story. Each had slightly baby-like proportions, with heads nearly half the length of their bodies, and almost all of them appeared to be female judging by the simple dresses that most of them wore. Oblivious to the presence of Aloysius behind him, Llewelyn worked away, trying to pull the mats of small tendrils free from the carved designs. "That's not a bright idea, you know," the polecat mused. "There's no telling how the inhalation of faerie pollens will affect your human lungs. And the mistress will be furious when she learns you're killing the--" As if on cue, the satyr burst forth from the foliage and descended on the mustelid, sweeping him up into her arms. "There you are, I was so worried, you could have been hurt, don't rush off like that alone, I can't protect you if you go off without me," she babbled in Welsh. From behind her, the massive form of Sandor, mute warrior, came barreling out of the woods behind his mistress, towering over her, a look of consternation clearly displayed on his face. His hammer was in his hands and he was ready to take on anything that he might find. When he realized that it was not some danger, but the polecat that Eirlys had bounded after, he realized the irony of his frustration. Here the maga was lecturing the mustlid on rushing off alone, yet her she was, bounding off into a wood that was, for all they know, designed to defy the fae, yet she did not think twice about leaving HER protection behind! Sandor glared at Eirlys, grunting his frustration and raising his hammer up and down between chest level and waist level to chastise the satyr. Turning at the sound, Eirlys saw the unhappy glare on Sandor's face. With one arm cradling Aloysius against her side, she leaned back and touched Sandor's cheek reassuringly. "See that, Aly? You worried Sandor, too," she admonished, before setting him back on the ground. "Now, what is it you were in such a hurry to--" Her voice broke off as her eyes scanned the scene. Confusion registered on her face first, followed quickly by anger. "What part of "don't slaughter the forest spirits" did you NOT understand?" she spoke quietly, her voice quivering with a cold fury. "If you like having hands, I suggest you remove them from the plant life, countryman." Her eyes narrowed as she considered replacing Llewelyn's hands with little badger-paws at the ends of his arms; she then realized that if she wanted him to stop digging at the flora, badger paws would NOT be a deterrent. As quickly as her anger had flared, it subsided just as fast, as Eirlys burst into giggles. "Well met Maga" declared Longinus. He had assumed his customary posture but the look on his face was unusually expressionless. "I see you managed to get past the ward safely." He paused a moment, then inclined his head. "I would appreciate it if you would refrain from threatening '''my' shieldsman." Straightening, his voice turned a shade colder. "''Not least until you have used the wits that you no doubt have hiding behind that pretty face and effusive expressions of charm. This place is a Hermetic Place, warded against the Fae. Any spirits of the forest that are here should not have been so and I will not dance around my objectives to accommodate such intruders." The coldness in his voice softened and his head inclined once more. "Besides, any fae strong enough to have breached the ward should have had no trouble expressing themselves. Now, shall we inspect the carvings?" "Glad that you've made known your belief that a Hermetic magus claims dominion over whatsoever he desires. However, among my House, we observe a degree of respect for nature. 'Should not have been so', you say? Perhaps you should refrain from insisting others use their wits until you've extended that effort personally. A circular ward is not permeable in one singular direction. What bars entry also bars exit. Or perhaps you're unaware of your kind's penchant for destruction, carnage, and rampant disregard for life -- seeing as how it comes so naturally. It takes humanity to create, and yet humanity destroys by its very nature. You would do well to remind yourself that in the realm of Faerie, the fae are not the intruders." Her face hardened. "Perhaps you didn't notice the faerie aura all through the forest, despite that there was no sign of fae activity. I suspect this is a prison of some sort, meant to keep us within-- not without. You, however, believe it to be the claimed territory of a Hermetic magus. Care to hedge a bet? Nothing important we'd miss, of course. Perhaps the color of our eyes? You do have such lovely orbs, they'd be a perfect addition to my collection." The satyr proferred a hand, to seal the wager. Longinus stood stonefaced, arms still clasped, for a moment, then his face relaxed into a smile, though it appeared somewhat forced. "Maga, first I must apologise. I have prior knowledge which coloured my perceptions, knowledge which you have not had access to and may have impacted on your assertions. Second, I cannot take such a wager. Not only are your eyes a much prettier colour than my own, so the wager is not even, but my prior knowledge impacts directly on the wager. I could not in good conscience leach the colour from those pretty eyes of yours and I would not want to." Her face twisted in a wry expression. "Perhaps if you shared more information about what we are facing, your companions would be better equipped to handle it," she mused. "Now to your points. First, I believe a Hermetic Magus can and should claim dominion over that which he can control and has fair claim to. The ward shows a level of control and the fair claim aspect I will get to in a moment." "The capacity to drive away or slaughter the inhabitants of an area does not confer any moral claims upon that area," Eirlys countered. "Else we should immediately turn our gifts to restoring all of this to Rome." Interrupted, a slight grimace temporarily chased away Longinus' smile. "Rome?" he began, then stopped short and began again. "Second, I too observe a degree of respect for nature. It does appear to fall short of your own veneration of every leaf and blade, but so does it appear to exceed the respect you show to the Order, its members, yourself included I may note, and to mundanes." The satyr shook her head. "I have far less concern for the mundane leaf and blade, than for those which may be sentient," she explained. "In magical and faerie auras, most trees are... awake. They can perceive that which is around them, and possess intelligence. They are not themselves fae, but they are living, intelligent beings, just as a man or a faerie might be. As to the proportion of the respect I bear, I shall naturally hold those which do not disrupt the cycle of nature, above and beyond those that do-- which places the fae and sentient trees far above mankind, in my esteem. Natura veritas unica." The girl smiled. "The Bjornaer and Merinita, I know teach reverence for nature. The same cannot be said for those humans I have encountered outside of these two Hermetic houses, however. Men wearing iron in their hair, men destroying plant life simply because they wish to walk in that direction, trees burned to the ground, seemingly for no reason... it boggles the mind." Longinus stared at Eirlys with an expression of incomprehension on his face, then regathered himself once more. "Third, it is quite correct that a ward bars both ways. Such a large ward does not however seem quite so likely as a prison instead of a protected space. I must confess, the presence or absence of fae activity, other than the good Aloysius of course," this said with a short bow to the little polecat, "remains a mystery to me thus far, and I bow to your superior experience. There is also the point that you insisted we assume that every leaf and blade outside the ward could be fae-related, which somewhat negates any assumption that the ward is for keeping fae in rather than out." "Again-- flora with consciousness is not equivalent to faerie. The trees may well be awake without being faerie creatures. Faerie auras, like fae ourselves, are created by the stories, dreams, and myths of humankind. When tales of a locale generate an aura, and fae spring up in that area, the presence of those fae, dream and myth made manifest, thereby bolster the tales man tells of the place. This in turn strengthens the aura. If a place is forgotten entirely, the aura will wink out, and the faeries there either die, or they may retreat to the heart of Arcadia if they remain in the dreams of at least one mortal." Eirlys' face wrinkled as she grinned. "That is what I find so strange about this place. An aura of this intensity could not be maintained without a strong fae presence somewhere within it. If the fae here all left or died, then the aura would dwindle to nothing... unless the belief in this place is strong, but then, that would then create new fae to inhabit the aura... you see the quandary? There must be fae somewhere within this forest, and we've yet to find any. Yet here we have a ward against faeries, with no faeries without to keep out, in said faerie forest which must contain faeries in order to maintain the aura. If not without, it seems likely that they are within." "Vae maga! Its a big wood. We ..." Longinus paused for a moment, his robe sleeves twitching. "Fourth, humankind's penchant for destruction and rampant disregard for life covers a wide spectrum from person to person. Some are good and kind, some are evil and cruel. Most fall some way in between, or rather, are a mix. Certainly your observation shows either a distinct lack of experience or a deliberately malignant misinformation. I know little of the fae, but is it not also true that there are good fae and bad fae, ones that love and ones that hate, ones that revere life and ones that are callous and cruel?" He paused for a moment, his robe sleeves twitching. "Some fae may be viewed as 'good' or 'bad' but fae morality has many shades of grey, just as humanity's I'm sure. You will not find *any* fae who destroy nature. Ever. Such transgressions are mankind's alone." "Qualem muleirculam!" Longinus muttered under a long slow breath. "We must sit down some time and define the terms we are using in this conversation. They clearly do not match." "Now where was I? Oh yes, the subject of the bet. The ward seemed not greatly powerful and without closely studying it I doubt it would have power enough to keep out the very strongest fae, say the lord of the forest. After all, by a simple extension of your Parma you managed to get Aloysius through it. What's more, even if it could keep out the Lord of the Forest, that would seem little use if the wards creators must brave a hostile forest every time they left this small warded area. That seems to me to indicate some level of agreement between Magus and Fae Lord. Since the ward stands, I'd guess that the agreement stands, making this Hermetic territory, fae forest or not. It also covers the fair claim aspect." She laughed. "Why would you think my parma would bring a faerie through a ward against fae? Even with the protection of my parma, Aloysius is still fae. I disagree with your concept of fair claim, but that seems an academic debate for another time. I hope, however, that you are correct in that the creator of the ward is on good terms with whatever neighbours may reside here." Longinus' brow furrowed. "He is here isn't he? Surely you extended your parma to protect all three of you, else we would not be standing here now having this argument?" conversation?) Turning back to Llewelyn, Longinus nodded. He spoke slowly and clearly in his native English. "My thanks to you. Do not mind her sudden mood changes. She seems to be quick to anger, but as quick to forget. I have warned her to remember that you are under my protection." Longinus then moved closer to the obelisk to inspect the carvings. "You just wanted a better look at this obelisk? Perhaps one might go about it WITHOUT the wanton destruction. If I may?" she said, approaching the stone pillar. There was a snicker behind her. ""Without wanton destruction" says the Perdo-happy maga," Aloysius sniped. (Eirlys will expend a fatigue level in an attempt to Muto Herbam (Animal) the remaining ivy into silk for two minutes. Base 4, +1 Touch, +1 Diameter = level 10 effect. Casting total: 15 Muto + 6 Herbam + 3 Stamina: 24 + aura + stress die, halved. If the spell doesn't botch, she'll then brush aside the strands of silk out of the way and onto the ground, so that two minutes later it becomes ivy again, only growing along the ground. She'll then scrutinize the obelisk to see if she can make any sense of it.) Continued [[Story : ?|Next page: ?] ----